WHY IT’S AWESOME

SPEED: Insanely light 1-ply upper, strategically placed rubber, speed platform, rocker design

EFFICIENCY: A pace-tuned midsole with a forefoot FastPod delivers optimized cushioning and maximized propulsion efficiency for the pace you run

COMFORT: Wide toe box, contoured heel pocket, lively pace-tuned feel

Z20 DESIGN NOTES

ENGINEERING SPECS: Average adult ranges for height, cadence, and body weight at this pace.

CUSHIONING: At this pace, when your stride's flight distance is the greatest, you generate a lot of force on impact, so we’ve tuned the reaction density of the heel and midfoot to provide optimized cushioning for the forces you create. Forget about "max" cushioning for some rando runner—the Z20 gives you the best cushioning for the way you're running today. We call this pace-tuned cushioning. The only way to get the best cushioning in a running shoe is to tune it by pace.

PROPULSION: At this pace it takes a lot of force to push off hard enough, so the last thing you want is a squishy, inefficient midsole. We’ve tuned the forefoot FastPods in the Z20 to deliver maximally efficient energy return given the forces at this pace.

DROP INFO: Runners at this pace are usually lightweight and often midfoot or forefoot strikers. With this in mind, we built a 4mm drop into the Z20. This helps prevent a negative heel drop angle upon impact.

SOLE DESIGN: Rocker design and fortified arch outsole for ideal propulsion. According to a recent paper on arch compression, forces on the arch are greatest during the push-off phase of your stride (not the impact phase). Most shoe designs carve out the arch area, exaggerating pronation. The Z20 fills the arch area to provide support during push-off, precisely when you need it most.

MIDSOLE MATERIAL: Vimazi Z-Foam has an EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) base. Proprietary additives have been mixed into the EVA to increase abrasion resistance and elongation properties. Most importantly, however, we use our specific EVA blend because it allows us to dial in an ideal compression set for each model. This isn’t possible using other common midsole foams. Finding a foam matrix that could be specced to specific durometers was one of the reasons it took five years to develop and produce our pace-tuned shoes. Our midsole formulas are the heart of the technology. They’re what allow us to tune the Vimazi Z20 to a peak force spec of 850N in heel/midfoot and 1200N in forefoot (M10). No one else does this, and it’s not currently possible to tune shoes in this way using other midsole foams.